The Service Academies (West Point, Naval Academy, Coast Guard Academy, and Air Force Academy) have their students get kind of caught in a Twilight Zone. They are members of the military and get paid, but the time does not count for retirement, they have a rank, but not for UCMJ purposes, etc. The same had been true for access to TSA’s Pre-Check which was supposed to be open to all DoD Service Members, but somehow it did not apply to cadets. TSA has now fixed this as written here.

Unlike at the beginning of the Pre-Check Program where a DoD member could just walk up to security, all SM including the cadets, must enter the DOD ID# on the back of your CAC Card into the “Known Traveler” field on your airline website or DTS. I’ll walk you through how to do it in DTS.

From the log in screen, select “Traveler Setup” and then “Update Personal Profile” on the drop down menu.

Then select the “My TSA Information” Tab

Finally, scroll down on that screen and put your DoD ID# in the “Known Traveler” field.

For your favorite airlines, it is a lot easier. Typically go to your account information. Look for traveler profile or personal information and then a “Known Traveler” block, then enter the ID information there and save. If you get your boarding passes and notice that they don’t say TSA Pre-Check at the top, then show the ticket agent your CAC Card and they can enter it and reprint the BP so you can sail through security without having to take your laptop out or remove your belt. Hope everyone has a safe flight home from the holidays!

4 responses to “TSA Pre-Check Now Open to Service Academy Students”

@Ben – I am well aware that the Merchant Marine Academy is one of them, but apparently TSA doesn’t know that! They are NOT listed as one of the academies that can use Pre-Check. I would love to hear if someone has experience trying to use a Merchant Marine CAC Card for Pre-Check.